Education + Tech

Education & Tech, was created to build hope that education based on social technologies, can transform the new century, and enable abundance not only spiritually but economically. Milton Ramirez, Ed.D. - @tonnet is the founder & editor. He is a teacher, tech blogger, writes on education, and hails this blog from Union, NJ. For further questions, tips or concerns please e-mail him to:miltonramirez [at] educationandtech [dot] com

Teacher + Scholar

If you are a regular to Blog Education & Tech, you shall remember that I am a blogger and I'd written a post about education almost everyday since 2003. Education & Tech provides you with education news, expert tech advice, classroom management ideas, and social media tools for educators, administrators, parents and k-12 students.

Education has become easier in regards to availability and affordability with the touch of the Internet. E-Learning not only makes a classroom education fun but also distant learning much more interactive.

The importance of education in today’s day and age has been multiplied to what it was a few years ago. With lesser high school dropouts and more students enrolling into universities and colleges, people have finally understood the worth of the degree; and for this, we need to thank the invention of technology.

You would now ask how? How has technology influenced youngsters to take education more seriously? Well, the answer is simple: technology has made education much more exciting that it was before. From boring textbooks to the interesting and innovative world of 'e', technology has made education exponentially better.

This form of teaching has also made distant learning much better. For students who are working professionals, or for some reason can’t go to schools or universities, e-learning has given them the opportunity to earn the education they desire in a much more interactive manner.

E-Learning comprises of education that is imparted electronically and technologically to the students. Bernard Luskin, a pioneer of e-learning says "the 'e' should be interpreted to mean exciting, energetic, enthusiastic, emotional, extended, excellent, and educational in addition to electronic."

With students continuously being online and using various gadgets and apps; e-learning benefits immensely because of this. Reaching the students is no more limited to the traditional means; universities use all kinds of social media, apps and make their campus and courses digitally active.

They use technologies like multimedia, internet, and so, to impart knowledge to the students. Higher ed institutions try to create a virtual learning environment. This sort of teaching can be incorporated from the classroom to a student in another continent. It is broadly divided into two categories – Synchronous and Asynchronous.

Synchronous is when you have real time teaching i.e. the student and the teacher would be interacting at the same time and asynchronous is when pre-recorded lectures and notes are send via various media, and the student at their convenience can view it.

Why E-Learning is perfect

1. No Age Barrier: One of the most important facts is the age barrier. Many people tend to forego college because of money or some other commitment, and eventually when they do have the money, they might not even consider education because of the age factor. This makes, e-learning very helpful. It is not that the schools or universities would not allow students of all age, but it is more about your own comfort.

2. Employed or Not: You don’t want to give up your work, because of a degree! No worries, e-learning is perfect for you. You can learn and earn at the same time. The degrees and diplomas are equivalent to the one you get in the universities. So you don’t need to be afraid whether or not it is worth it. These sort of educational techniques are now spreading from the classroom to the online medium.

3. Availability: You can get access to your course from anywhere at any time, all you need is a good internet connection. Even in classrooms, while learning through e-mediums a student can always make use of various apps and tools to record and learn.

4. Choice: Nowadays e-learning is incorporated in various courses around the world, from high school diplomas to top most postgraduate degrees. Just browse through some of the education portals and learn more about the variety.

5. Affordable: This costs less than what you would have to pay if you were enrolled as a regular student. Along with that, you also don’t have the additional expenses like travel, accommodation, etc. You can sit at your home/office and learn at the same time.

Many top-notch universities are opting to go 'e'. Not only they are getting more distance learning student enrolled but also the offering of programs are also being opted by the regular students as it becomes more convenient. Universities extending e-learning services are Columbia, Harvard, MIT, Stanford, University of Manchester, Edinburgh Naiper University, and others. To find more options all you need is to go online log onto one of the education portals, which would give you a wider list up to your requirement.

This transformation of education has definitely made it more viable, it is no more restricted to students with a certain bank balance, grade or any means beholding some want to be students. It is universally available to every single person who wants it. All you need to do is reach out and grab it.

This guest post was written by Trisha. She is a professional writer and adviser on education. She is an ardent reader, a traveler and a passionate photographer. She wants to explore the world and write about whatever comes across her way.